Dictionaries and encyclopedias for English literature

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Some useful titles are listed below. Find more on Unicorn by searching for "English literature and encyclopedias".

There are two key online resources which give access to hundreds of dictionaries and encyclopedias:

Dictionaries/companions of American literature
3rd Floor Reference--810.3

Dictionaries of literary terms
3rd Floor Reference--803

Dictionaries of quotations
3rd Floor Reference--808.88

Dictionaries/companions of English literature
3rd Floor Reference--820.3

Black writers
3rd Floor Reference--810.92-BLA

Cambridge guide to the theatre
3rd Floor Reference--792.03-CAM

Contemporary dramatists
3rd Floor Reference--822.91403-CON

Contemporary novelists
3rd Floor Reference--823.91403-CON

Contemporary poets
3rd Floor Reference--821.91403-CON

Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature
3rd Floor Reference--820.93-DIC

Dictionary of classical reference in English poetry
3rd Floor Reference--821.093-SMI

Dictionary of fictional characters
3rd Floor Reference--823.03-DIC

Dictionary of literary themes and motifs
3rd Floor Reference--809.93-DIC

Dictionary of the history of ideas
3rd Floor Reference--109-DIC

Encyclopedia of fantasy
3rd Floor Reference--809.9303-ENC

Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English
3rd Floor Reference--828.9903-ENC

Encyclopedia of science fiction
3rd Floor Reference--809.387603-ENC

Granger’s index to poetry
3rd Floor Reference--808.1-GRA

Great writers student library
3rd Floor Reference--820.3-GRE

Oxford dictionary of national biography
4th Floor Reference--920.042-OXF
Also available online - Athens login required for off-campus use

Oxford encyclopedia of theatre & performance
3rd Floor Reference--792.03-OXF

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
3rd Floor Dictionaries--423-OXF
Also available online - Athens login required for off-campus use

Twentieth-century children’s writers
3rd Floor Reference--820.3-TWE

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